Winter Ties
by theparamoregames
Summary: SEQUEL TO UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER. Modern Day AU. Summer's over, school's back and the gang find themselves having to manoeuvre their way through new relationships, end-of-school struggles and the beginning of the rest of their lives. Friendships will be tested and relationships will grow but will Katniss and her friends managed to make their way through unscathed?
1. Chapter 1

KATNISS POV

We'd only been back from the lake for two weeks and already Summer was slowly, but surely, beginning to fade into Autumn. Being home again had taken some adjusting to; I couldn't exactly do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Here, I had things to do and an un-ending mountain of homework that appeared to be growing, rather than diminishing. Our vacation had been good for so many things but the amount of study I had to complete wasn't one of them.

Prim had returned home from her short Summer Camp a couple of days before I did, and almost instantly she and Mum spotted the effect Peeta had on my attitude. By the time we made it back that night, Prim was fast asleep but mum had waited up for us, slightly worried despite her denial. She'd asked questions but we decided to wait until morning when Prim was awake. So when morning came, we took it in turns asking about what we had gotten up to over the past few weeks.

"Did something happen while you were gone, Katniss?" Prim had questioned almost immediately.

"What kind of something?" I had laugh nervously.

"I'm not too sure, you just seem …. Happier." Prim had looked between me and my mother who was nodding. "Almost like the way girls do in those cliché movies when they find out that the boy who they'd been crushing on had liked them back all this time."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I laughed nervously pulling my hair over my shoulder.

"Do we get to find out who he is?" Mum had asked with a smile on her face.

I couldn't have wiped that smile off my face if I had tried "Uhh …. Peeta Mellark."

"The one you were at the park with the day before you left?" Prim asked eagerly.

I had nodded with a smile causing butterflies to fly through my stomach.

In hindsight it was kind of frightening how easily the two of them pick it, almost like the way that Peeta's friends had. It only made me wonder how much of a difference there was in me, if there even was one. There had to be, I mean what are the chances that you go away for three weeks and return with the same perspective you left with?

I had stay up until the early hours of the morning the night before in order to finish the last of my assignments, so I reluctantly began to pull myself out of bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I went. Since being home I'd found it harder than usual to pass the hours on long days and already I could tell that this would be one of those days. After showering and getting dressed I make my way down stairs, tying my hair up in a braid along the way.

"Morning, love." My Mum smiles, looking up from her paper.

"Morning." I reply taking a seat opposite her "I thought you were working this morning?"

"I am; leaving in 10 minutes." She tells me, taking a sip of her coffee. "Do you have much planned for today?"

As if on cue my phone lights up on the table, buzzing for a moment. I pick it up and find a message from Peeta.

**_"wanna meet for lunch? :)"_** It reads. I smile as my eyes wander around the room, catching my mums gaze along the way.

"Peeta?" she questions with a smile.

"Yeah, we're gonna meet for lunch." I tell her.

I type a quick reply **_"Of course, shouldn't you be working?" _**

**_"….Maybe. I finish in 20, see you soon?"_** I laugh a little at the fact that he should be working.

**_"Sure, now get back to work before you get fired for slacking off, Mellark. Xx" _**

My mum laughs a little at my sudden change in demeanour, I presume and looks at me the way she did when I was younger.

"So, do you think Prim and I are ever going to get to meet Peeta?" she asks raising an eyebrow as she folder up the paper and collects her things.

"Yeah … I mean, I guess so; I'd like that." I smile. "I'll talk to him about it."

"Ok, sweetie. Have fun today, Prims at her friend's house, so make sure you lock up. Love you." She says, kissing me on the head before she leaves.

"Love you too."

I head back up stairs and make myself a little more presentable, seeing as I had no intentions of leaving the house up until five minutes ago. Not that I can complain about my company for the day. I was excited to see Peeta; the past few days I'd lock myself up in my room in attempt to finish off homework and study as much as possible. It felt like a good way to spend the day considering it was nearing the end of summer. I pull on some jeans rather than the sweatpants I was wearing before, picked a light sweater from my wardrobe and make my way back downstairs, awaiting the knock on the door that came 15 minutes later.

I open the front door to find Peeta leaning against the side wall, his eyes cast downward, making him look incredibly debonair for a brief moment.

"Hey." He smiles, looking up.

"Hi." I smile back as he gently pulls me into his arms. "How was work?"

"Pretty quiet really; managed to get more done than I thought." He shrugs before planting a kiss on my lips. I smile before he has a chance to pull away entirely, and pull him closer to me again, causing him to let out a small chuckle.

"You wanna get going?" He laughs as he wraps an arm around my shoulders. I nod with a smile and let him lead the way out to his car, not forgetting to lock up first. Peeta looks down at me before opening the passenger-side door and smiles sweetly "You look nice."

I can't help but let out a small laugh as he turns and heads to the other side of the car, noticing the small mark of flour on the corner of his forehead. I guess that what you get from working at a bakery. I grab his hand before he's out of reach and pull him back to me.

"You have flour on your head." I laugh, wiping it off with my thumb and leaning up to kiss him. "And thank you."

Fifteen minutes later we find ourselves sitting in a booth at the café in town, sipping on milkshakes as we wait for our lunch. We sit together trying to deny the fact that school was starting again in a mere few days; neither of us were really looking forward to it.

"I feel like it's gonna be different for some reason." I sigh with a shrug. I didn't know what to expect from the last term of school and it was a really scary thought. Trying to make it through piles of exams and assignments was daunting enough, not to mention the Senior Year Formal; dancing wasn't exactly my thing. None the less, I still had this weird feeling that it would all be different somehow.

"I know what you mean; it's a big few weeks, I feel this it's bound to have some strings attached." He agrees. With that, a small blonde waitress strides up to our table with our food in her hands.

"Here we go." She smiles at Peeta while setting the plates on the table on front of us. She keeps her back to me, but on enough of an angel that I can see her battering her lashes at him, a flirtatious smile spreading across her face as he thanks her for the food.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" She asks, continuing to ignore me.

"No, thank you." Peeta smiles politely, apparently oblivious to her current manner.

She tosses her blonde hair behind her shoulder, smiles and strides confidently off toward the kitchen. The way she was looking at Peeta made me feel slightly jealous, territorial even. It was such a foreign feeling, I almost felt guilty for even thinking that way, but I couldn't deny that's how it made me feel. After all, Peeta was my boyfriend. I couldn't help but crack a smile at the fact that he didn't notice her over-friendly efforts.

Peeta shoots me a questioning look as I let out a small laugh. "What?"

"You didn't notice that?" I refine myself enough to stop laughing, but it was a futile effort at best. Peeta shakes his head, indicating that he was unaware of what just happened.

"She was flirting with you." I laugh. He raises an eyebrow.

"Really?"

I nod.

"Oh, well I'm already with the prettiest girl here, so there's couldn't be any comparison." He shrugs matter-of-factly with a cheeky grin on his face.

I feel a slight blush rising on my cheeks as I reach across the table and take his hand in my own, smiling gently at him whilst trying to avoid getting lost in his blue eyes. I remember the conversation I had this morning with my Mum and decide I may as well ask Peeta now. I take a in a deep breath; I didn't know why I was slightly worried, but I was nervous about how my Mom would react when meeting Peeta for the first time.

"My Mom wants to meet you. Prim, too." I say slowly with a timid smile.

"Really? That'd be great, I'd love to meet them! Whenever you guys want." He smiles enthusiastically before his smile fades into more of a frown. I raise an eyebrow at his sudden change of attitude.

"Speaking of which, my Dad's said the same thing really. Mum … well, you know how she is, but they both wanna meet you. My brother Alex is coming home for a couple of weeks, so I thought if you have to go through meeting my family we may as well get it over and done with at once, right?" he raises an uncertain eyebrow.

"Yeah, that makes sense." I smile, hoping to appear calmer than I really felt. "When does he get home?"

"Next Tuesday, and he doesn't leave for another two weeks." He sound really uncertain about even bringing up the subject. "I get it you don't want to; I guess I haven't really made my family all that appealing." He frowns slightly.

I squeeze his hand gently and smile. "I would love to meet them, Peeta. What are you so worried about?"

"I just know how my Mum's going to react; she's done it every time Alex or Ryan bring home a new girlfriend or whatever. I just don't want you to have to put up with that." He admits quietly.

"It's ok, I understand that. It'll be fine." I assure him. He smiles in appreciation before we finish our meals.

Another hour passes before we leave. Peeta offers me a hand up when were ready to go. Together we walk past the blonde waitress; Peeta gives me a cheeky grin, taking my hand in his own and planting a quick kiss on my cheek. We each let out a laugh when we're out of earshot. He leads the way back to his car and kisses me again, longer this time. His hand winds around my waist as I reach up and run mine through his hair. When we pull away from each other he smirks.

"Consider that my apology in advance for how my family is gonna act when they meet you." He shakes his head slightly.

I can't help but laugh as I climb into his car. To be honest the thought of meeting Peeta's family would be at the back of my mind until it actually happened. I was nervous to meet them, I could admit that much to myself but I wasn't sure how they would react to meeting me, and that scared me. I knew Peeta would be there the whole time so that made it a little better, but until then, I knew it wouldn't be easy to ignore the growing anticipation and the way that I would, no doubt, make up scenarios in my head with the hope that the actual day would be similar.

* * *

**Here it is! Chapter One, I really hope you guys like it and I would really appreciate it if you would let me know what you thought? For anyone who hasn't read Unforgettable Summer, it might help it you did, though as this point, i don't think it's overly necessary. Please R&R! Hopefully Chapter Two will be up soon. :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

KATNISS POV

"Think you're ready for this?" Peeta says with a slight laugh from behind me as his slides his arms around my waist.

"Not in the slightest." I say, turning to face him while trying to hide how truly worried I am.

I'd never met Peeta's family before, I'd only heard stories from him; most of which seems nice …. For the most part. Peeta loved and treasured his family immensely, that much was noticeable from watching him talk about them. Yet, I couldn't shake the nervous feeling in the bottom of my stomach. From the stories Peeta had told me about his family, I already knew a little about each of his siblings and his parents, and that's what was worrying me. His Mum didn't exactly seem like the type of person who was willing to meet you halfway. From what I'd heard she was only ever slightly invested in mothering Peeta and his two older brothers. His Dad, on the other hand, seemed like the polar opposite; Peeta looked up to him and was excited for me to meet him. He seemed like the warmer one of the two, which made me feel a little at ease. But nervous nonetheless.

"You look … Scared?" Peeta asks quietly, gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"What if they don't like me?" I reply quietly, biting my lip intently.

"That's impossible." He smiles sweetly "My Dad already loves you. Alex and Ryan, honestly, will probably forget we're there after twenty minutes. As for my Mum, well … she barely likes me so I wouldn't take it too personally if she doesn't want to be your best friend." The tone of his voice is light while attempting to brighten my hopes, but there's something in his eyes that tells me he's portraying his family honestly.

I look up to find his eyes on mine and an encouraging smile on his face. "I'll be by your side the whole time. I promise." He insists brightly.

"OK." Is all I manage to get out.

He takes my hand and pushes open the front door, leading me into a circular entrance hall lined with photographs. Peeta looks down at me, lets out a slight laugh and squeezes my hand. "Breathe, Katniss, they're probably all up stairs."

"Oh, right, yeah." I say taking in a deep breath. Instantly I'm greeted with the smell of fresh bread and cinnamon, which is a surprising comfort. I turn to the wall nearest me and scan through the photos. Peeta and his brothers sure do look alike; all blonde, similar heights, similar builds. The main thing that separates them is their eye colour, Alex and Ryan, his older brothers both appear to have brown eyes, whereas Peeta's bright blue ones stand out instantly. My eyes stop at a photo of Peeta where he looks about eight, dressed up head to toe, in black leathers, standing next to a motorbike about twice his size. He has something between a smirk and a grimace on his face and I can't help but let out a laugh. Peeta sees the photo, lets out a sigh from behind me and covers my eyes with his hands.

"I think that's enough of that." He laughs.

"You used to be pretty cute." I smile, trying to pry his hands away.

"Used to be?" he feigns shock, finally removing his hands to wipe away fake tears. "C'mon." he puts his hand on my back and guides me through the hall way.

We reach the end of the hallway and enter a living room where two of his brothers sit, tossing a small ball across the short distance between themselves. Alex, the older of the two notices almost immediately as we walk in, tossing the ball to his brother without looking at him. Ryan follows Alex's eyes until he notices the two of us, flinching away as the ball hits him squarely in the chest. I look up to find Peeta shaking his head at his brothers before looking down to meet my eyes, giving me an encouraging smile.

"Katniss, these are my brothers, Alex and Ryan." He says looking between the two. "Guys this is Katniss."

They each looked me up and down rather quickly before looking at me with a smile. I look up to Peeta with a slightly un-easy look on my face.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Katniss." Alex smiles warmly before turning to Ryan with a smug look. "Told you he wasn't making her up."

Ryan pulled a face at Alex before looking between Peeta and me "Yeah, you're all Peet's talked about since you got back from your little holiday." Ryan comments with a smirk.

Peeta's face had turned a little red, practically confirming what Ryan had just said. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh, squeezing Peeta's hand gently.

"Seriously though Peet, when you showed us a picture of the two of you I was pretty sure you'd photo-shopped it, but I'm starting to second guess myself." Ryan says thoughtfully at Peeta, a slight smirk still on his face.

Peeta raises an eyebrow at his brother, shaking his head at him before turning to me.

"You'll have to excuse Rye, there's not much of a filter between his brain and his mouth; so feel free to ignore anything he says." Peeta tells me smiling, his cheeks still slightly red. Behind him Alex is laughing in agreement, while Ryan simply sits there looking between the three of us.

He leads me away from the living room and up a short flight of stairs and gives me a weary smile before we reach the landing.

"Sorry about them." He motions his head back toward the living room.

"It's fine." I insist.

Once we reach the landing, he leads the way into a large kitchen area where a tall man, who I presume is Peeta's Father, is bustling around. We reach the counter before he turns around, noticing us with an unmistakable smile on his face. His Dad was tall, clearing six-foot easily, his hair-line was receding, but did nothing to revert from his blonde hair. He had bright blues eyes and it immediately made sense about whom Peeta had acquired his from. They were quite the same stunning shade of blue, but at least it made sense now.

"Dad, this is Katniss." Peeta says with an unmistakable smile in his voice. "Katniss, this is my Dad."

"Katniss! It's so great to finally meet you, Peeta has told us a lot about you." Mr Mellark says with a beaming smile.

"It's really nice to meet you too, Mr Mellark." I smile, trying my hardest to ensure that my nerves didn't make their way into my voice.

"Peeta here hasn't stopped talking about you since you all got back from your little holiday." Mr Mellark grins, looking between the two of us.

"Dad." Peeta says quietly, growing red again.

"Sorry, son. It's just nice to finally meet her." He says humbly. I can't help but let out a little laugh at Peeta reaction to his Dad's words.

"Is Mum around?" Peeta asks, biting his bottom lip intently.

"Yeah, she's in the office finishing off some book work and filling orders for the bakery." He smiles. Mr Mellark had such a warm, friendly smile, it was hard to feel nervous around him.

Peeta gives me a nervous look and heads a few metres down a bright hallway, stoping in front of a half-open door. He knocks gently before lightly pushing the door open. His Mum doesn't look up as we enter, she merely continues punching numbers into a calculator.

"Mum, do you have a second?" Peeta asks, looking down at me with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"No, not really Peeta, what is it?" She asks, still not looking up.

"Oh." He says, noticeably disappointed "I just wanted to introduce you to Katniss."

At the mention of my name, his Mum stops her bookwork momentarily and turns to look at us. Peeta has a weary look on his face, and I'm sure I do too. Like his brothers, his Mum looks me up and down too, but this time I feel more scrutiny in her eyes.

"Hi Katniss, it's good to meet you." She says, he voice sounding detached and unsure.

"Yeah; it's great to meet you too." I tell her with a smile, certain my nerves were cracking through my façade this time.

The two of us stand in the doorway, unsure of whether or not to continue the conversation further, until his mother makes the decision for us.

"Peeta, I've got a lot of work to finish, I'll talk to the two of you over dinner." She says with a sense of finality, turning back to her books.

"Ok." He says quietly, taking my hand and leading me away from the office. We follow the hallway a little further before he turns the handle on the door of the room I presume is his.

Despite the grey colour that decorates the walls, his room is quite bright and open, welcoming really. There's a double bed pushed against the corner of the room, a desk and a bookshelf next to it. I can't help but smile as I notice there are still a few boxes that sit unpacked next to his wardrobe.

Peeta sits on the edge of his bed and puts his head in his hands with a sigh. He runs his hands through his hair before looking up at me with a sad smile. I take a seat next to him and he immediately puts an arm around me, pulling me closer.

"I'm sorry about her." He mumbles with a frown. "I mean, I wasn't expecting much but I thought she might have put a little bit of effort in, at least."

"It's ok, Peeta, really." I tell him with a smile, taking his hand in my own and vying for his eye contact.

"No it isn't, it's not fair to you. Y'know, I wasn't even keen on moving here in the first place, so I thought she might have been the slightest bit happy that I'd found someone like you." He says, looking at the floor.

"Hey, look at me." I wait until his eyes meet mine once again "I love you and however your mum reacts to me isn't gonna change that, ok?"

"I love you, too." He says sounding a little happier now, before he leans to kiss me. I run a hand through his hair before we pull away.

"Thank you." He smiles, planting a gentle kiss on my forehead.

We sit in his room together for the next half hour, laughing and talking about his brother's' reactions to us.

"Ryan was adamant I was making you up." Peeta laughs "And Alex didn't even know what to think."

"Why were they so shocked?" I ask curiously, raising an eyebrow.

Peeta looks at me incredulously and raises both his eyebrows. He slowly starts to shake his head from side by side, a smile creeping onto his face.

"You're gorgeous Katniss, they never – in a thousand years - would have believed that you would go out with someone like me." He says slowly, almost in order to ensure that I understood what he was saying.

I couldn't help but let a smile spread across my face, but the way Peeta had said '_someone like me_' had left me feeling faintly concerned.

"I don't understand why they're so shocked because I don't think I'll ever understand what I did to deserve you." I tell him honestly, not letting his eye contact stray from mine.

He smiles, a slightly crooked smile, and leans in to kiss me again, winding his hand through my hair. As we pull apart I notice another small pile of boxes that have been left unpacked.

I raise an eyebrow at him and smile. "You still haven't finished unpacking?"

"Oh yeah." Her turns his head in the direction of the boxes. "Poor form, I know; we've been here for what … five months now and I'm still going. It's mostly stuff from when I was little, I think."

Peeta gets off his bed, picks up one of the boxes and brings it back, pulling the tape off of the top as he goes. Setting it down on the bed, he lets out a laugh and pulls out a bright red superhero cape. I let out a small laugh and watch as he turns the cape back and forth in his hands.

"This was totally not mine." He says with a guilty look as he tries to hide his smile.

"That's a shame; it would have looked pretty great on you." I insist, taking it from his hands and tying it around his neck. He raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn't seem to object.

"You're the best looking super hero I've ever seen, that's for sure." I tell him with a laugh.

"Is that so?" he takes a few steps closer to me, a sudden intensity in his eyes. I nod without taking my eyes off of his. Peeta grins suddenly and playfully tackles me onto his bed, landing next to me.

Simultaneously, we lean in to kiss each other, running my hand through his hair once again. There's a knock against his bedroom door and reluctantly he pulls away and sits up.

"Yeah?"

Ryan pokes his head around the door, giving Peeta a strange look as he notices the cape. "Dinners ready."

"Ok, we'll be out in a minute." Peeta sighs and offers me a hand, gently pulling me up.

He takes a few steps toward the door before I quickly grab his hand and pull him back toward me. I reach my hands up and untie the cape that was still around his neck and laugh.

"Thanks." He smiles "That would have taken some explaining." He leans down to kiss me again before looking at me with a sigh. "And now comes the fun part."

* * *

**Hey guys! thank you all for the response to the first chapter, it was really great to see that you were enjoying it so far! Please R&R and let me know what you thought of Peeta's family so far**


	3. Chapter 3

PEETA

I shoot Katniss an apologetic look as my parents took a short break from their bombardment of questions and stories over dinner. Most of the questions came from my mom, the stories were my dad's working; it was clear he was trying to defuse the tension that my mother had created. She smiles back sweetly but continued to nervously tug on the ends of her hair occasionally.

My mother had hounded her with questions about school for a good fifteen minutes when we first sat down to dinner and Katniss had managed to answer them all with a smile, but if the way my mother acted when Ryan and Alex brought home any past girlfriends was any indication, it wouldn't end there. We'd managed to get almost through dinner before she said anything that could cause too much damage.

Katniss took a sip of her drink in front of her at my mother cleared her throat, yet again.

"So, Katniss, what do your family do?" she asked.

"Oh, well my mum is a nurse and my little sister, Prim is about to start her first year of high school." Katniss replies, setting her glass back down on the table.

"And your father?" my mum pressed with a raise eyebrow

I open my mouth quickly, hoping to change the subject before anyone had the chance to notice. Katniss had opened up to me about her Dad when we were away, but even then it was obvious it wasn't something she wanted to openly talk about. I didn't want her to get upset tonight when she had already been so nervous about it.

"You don't –"I start, putting my hand over hers

"It's ok." Katniss says reassuringly "My uh …my Dad died when I was eleven."

"Oh, Katniss we're sorry." Dad says as a dull mood shifts through the room.

"No, it's ok, you weren't to know." She insists hastily.

* * *

I help dad clear the plates from the table and follow him into the kitchen, pulling myself up onto the counter with a sigh. Pulling my hands through my hair, I look up to see Dad giving me a slight frown.

"Don't worry about your Mum too much Peet, she'll come 'round." He insist, raising en eyebrow "you know how she can get."

"Yeah, that's exactly why I'm worried for Katniss' sake. I should probably get back in there before she says something else." I say with a sigh, heading for the dining room again.

"Hey" Dad says, taking my arm before I have the chance to leave. He looks me in the eye and smiles "Katniss is great, son. I'm happy for you."

I smile and head back to find mum and Alex lecturing Ryan about college, Katniss was smiling along with their conversation. She looks up as I sit down next to her, taking her hand in my own.

"I'm sorry." I tell her with a grimace.

"Peeta, it's ok." She says with a smile.

"Are you sure?" I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Positive."

* * *

An hour later Katniss and I find ourselves back in my bedroom and away from the drama and un-ending questions my mother inflicted, intentional or not. I was thankful to be away from them, however ungrateful it sounded, I just didn't want Katniss to leave here with an impression of my family that wasn't accurate. I'd always been uncertain about introducing Katniss to my family, I just hope they knew how important she was to me.

"What's on your mind?" Katniss asks giving me a quizzical look, an eyebrow raised.

"You." I say with a timid smile. "And them." I motion my head in the general direction of my family. "I just wonder if they know how happy you make me."

Katniss leans forward and wraps her hand around the back of my neck, pulling my closer and placing her lips on mine. My hand begins to slide around her waist as I kiss her back.

"You're such a sap." She laughs between kisses.

Katniss leans back against the bed head and runs a hand through my hair, a certain urgency rising between us. I pull her closer but can't help but let out a little laugh as she pulls at the bottom of my t-shirt. I take her face gently in my hands and look into her eyes as she gives an exasperated sigh, leaning against the bed head again.

"I'm sorry." She laughs "I just …" she sighs again, trailing off and shifting next to me on the edge of the bed

"I know. Me too."

I scrub my hands through my hair and place a gentle kiss on her cheek. Katniss flops back on the bed causing her t-shirt to rise over the top of her jeans slightly; I can't help but smile as I notice the way her skin is still tanned from the summer. How could one person be so flawless? It was beyond me.

There's a knock on the bedroom door and Alex comes into my room with a smile and takes a seat at my desk.

"Just coming to see if you've run away screaming yet?" he looks to Katniss who was sitting up now.

"Nope, not yet." She laughs looking at me from the corner of her eyes.

"Yet" Alex confirms with a wink at me. He turns to Katniss again. "Hey, I know it's easier said than done, but don't take anything Mum says seriously. She did the same thing to my girlfriend, but she gets over it eventually, just give her time."

"That's good to know, I guess." Katniss says with a smile

"I'll leave you guys to it." Alex says standing up and ruffling my hair with a smirk. I hit his hand away and shake my head at him as he leaves.

"We should probably get you home; don't wanna give your mum a bad impression before I've even met her." I tell Katniss, taking her hand in mine and pulling her up into my arms.

"That's impossible." She says, resting her head against my chest.

Regardless, I take her hand and lead her back through my house, thanking my parents on the way out. We're met with a warm smile from my father and a curt nod from my mum. We head out to the car and begin the short drive to Katniss house. As we drive through the night I can't help but glace over at Katniss every few minutes, curious as to what she was thinking, but the ten minute drive seems to be over all too soon. I pull into the driveway and look over to Katniss with a timid smile.

"Peeta, it really wasn't as bad as you seem to think it was." She says smiling.

"It wasn't?" I raise an eyebrow as Katniss shakes her head. "Still, I'm sorry about my Mum."

"Stop apologizing." Katniss reaches over and pulls me to her with a smile, placing a small kiss on my lips.

"Sorry." I laugh as she pulls away and gives me a stern look.

"Thanks for taking me tonight though, it was nice to meet your family, Peeta." Katniss smiles.

"Anytime." I tell her as she climbs out of the car. She quickly walks around to my side of the car, sticking her head through the window as I roll it down.

"Mmm?" I ask with a smile, raising an eyebrow.

"Goodnight." Katniss smiles, kissing me on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Miss Everdeen. I love you."

"I love you, too." She heads up the path and inside her house. I wait until she closes the front door behind her before driving home.

* * *

I head up stairs to find Dad in the kitchen sipping on a mug of hot chocolate. He looks up as I enter and gives me a big smile.

"Katniss is a great girl, Peet." He says with a beaming smile, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, she is." I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

"I'm really glad you found someone like her; it's high time. It's good to see you happy. Y'know, it was a bit worried about how you would adjust when we moved, especially considering how distracted you looked before you all went away at the beginning of summer. But, I'm glad you've got her." He says, nodding his head.

"Thanks Dad."

"And don't worry about your Mum, just give her some time and she'll come around." Dad insists with a sincere tone.

"I hope so." I sigh "I'm gonna head to bed, G'night Dad."

"Night, Peet." He calls as I head to my bedroom.

I flop down onto the bed with a sigh, wishing Katniss was still here with me, already looking forward to seeing her again.

* * *

**hey guys! Here's chapter 3, i'd love it if you could tell me what you thought of it and also what you thought of Peeta's family? Also, my new friend TornPages03 and I are starting to working on a new THG story; its gonna be Modern Day Au and each chapter will be based on/inspired by Parmore songs! So it'd be great it you could check that out once we get started, and go give Ambers storys a read, theyy're great! Have a good week! R&R! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

KATNISS POV

"Mornin' Catnip!" Gale says with a sheepish grin as he clambers into the passenger seat. I raise an eyebrow at him and his insistence of my re-occurring nickname.

"Hey." I say, rolling my eyes at him.

"Last first day back, huh! Feels weird. Thanks for the ride, by the way. Of all the mornings for my car to shit itself, it had to be today." He says with a slight laugh "Old heap of junk."

"No wonder it died when you talk about it like that." I laugh, pulling out of his driveway.

"Oh well. I'll just have to work on it on the weekend again; try resurrect it."

"Yeah, good luck with that Gale." I laugh "Are you right to get home tonight?"

"Mhm, gonna go catch a movie with Madge after school." He says with an unmistakable smile. "Why, what are you up to tonight?"

"Peeta's coming over to meet Mum and Prim." I tell gale with a smile that resembled his own.

"Oh ok. You met his folks yet?" he raises an eyebrow as we find ourselves getting closer and closer to school.

"Uh, yeah, a couple weeks ago now." I tell him, trying to manoeuvre my way through the traffic from the local primary school.

"What are they like?"

"Yeah, his brothers are nice, so is his dad. His mum is, uhh ... she's a little hostile." I say, trying to find the right words to describe out first encounter.

Gale lets out a low whistle and shakes his head a little. "That's rough."

"Yeah, well, could be worse I guess." I reason with a shrug.

"He makes you happy though, right?"

I let out a small, timid smile and nod my head slightly. "He does."

"So what's on your mind then? You seem …" He pauses while he looks for the right words "Pre-occupied?"

"I'm just worried about school, y'know I don't feel like I've done enough to get where I wanna go."

"Don't talk like that, Katniss. You've worked harder than anyone I know; you're gonna be just fine." He says with a sense of finality and assurance. Gale looks to me as I pull into a car park, shutting the engine off and gives me a warm smile.

"I hope you're right." I sigh, closing the front door behind me/

"Always am. See ya at lunch Catnip." Gale says taking his bag from the back seat and heading off toward the other side of the building.

I pull my bag over my shoulder and push my hair from my face, following the pathway toward the main building, trying to push the thought of school pressure toward the back of my mind. But it was a futile effort, at best. Who knew who this last term of school would turn out? For all I knew, I might end up failing my next subjects and put all my hard work to waste. I shuddered at the thought; I knew I couldn't afford to think like that, but I couldn't deny that that thought was continuously on my mind.

Absentmindedly, I find my way to my locker and fiddle with the lock before pulling it open. I pull out the timetable that I had mostly forgotten about for the past two months and find that double history was first up; I couldn't argue because this meant that I was with Peeta for the next few hours, hopefully we would do something in the way of calming my arguably irrational nerves. Scanning over the time table, I pull the necessary books from the back of my locker and force them all into my bag with slight difficulty. I reach to the back of my locker to reach the calculator I had rejected over the summer and go to slide it into my bag, only for it to slip from my fingers and hit the floor with a light thud. I turn to find Peeta standing beside me with a warm smile and my calculator in his hand.

"Morning." He smiles, handing me the calculator.

"Hi." I smile as he places a quick kiss on my lips.

"How're you?"

"Oh, I'm fantastic." I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes with a slight frown. "You?"

He laughs a little at my reaction to his question before answering with a shrug. "I'm ok, not really sure if I'm 100% awake as of yet, but I'll get there."

"Well I don't think double history is gonna help you with that one." I laugh, pushing my locker closed. I look up to Peeta as he casually brushes his unruly blonde hair away from his eyes and lets out a bit of a sigh.

Together we make our way toward our History classroom. I couldn't help but notice the curious looks we got from passers-by every now and then. Peeta seems to notice it too as he looks down to me every couple minutes and smiles, shaking his head. As much as I want to laugh it off with him it only brings back the thought of school, and how desperately I needed to focus more than ever this last term. The short walk to the classroom is over is quickly and I become quietly thankful until Peeta takes my hand and pulls me aside before we enter.

"Is everything ok?" he raises an eyebrow, his voice full of concern. I internally shun myself for being so easy to read.

"Yeah." I nod my head in attempt to spare Peeta from my unnecessary thoughts.

"Katniss?" the look on his face tell me that he thinks otherwise.

I sigh in defeat. "I'm just … Worried about all of this." I motion to the school around us as a small frowns works its way onto my features.

"You don't need to be." He says quietly with an intense look in his eyes.

"Yes, I do! What if I don't do enough? What if I haven't done enough already? Peeta, I can't just try and push this to the back of my mind, believe me, I've tried. I just can't shake the feeling that I'm not good enough to finish school with a high enough mark to get me where I wanna go." I say quickly as the urgency rises in my voice. Subconsciously, my hand finds its way to the end of my hair, pulling on it distractedly. Peeta takes my hand in his own and gently tucks my hair behind my ear.

"Hey, don't. Don't even talk like that. Don't ever say that you're not good enough, don't even think it, okay? You've done more than enough; your grades are as high as they can be, no college in their right minds would be able to ignore you." He says with a slight smile but a serious tone in his voice. "I know it's easier said than done, but you gotta try and stay positive about this Katniss."

"I know, you're right but I can't help it sometimes." I shrug, looking down at our intertwined hands.

"Sometimes?" he questions with raised eyebrows.

"Ok, a lot of the time."

"Well here, think about this; I'm coming home with you tonight to meet your family, so I think that kinda gives us both an excuse to be freaking out a bit, right?" he smiles, his attempt to lighten my mood working instantly.

"Why're you freaking out? You'll charm them both within seconds." I laugh as Peeta takes my hand and leads the way toward our usual seats at the back of our history classroom, ignoring the odd looks from a few curious eyes.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, you have this way with words." I smile, pulling out my books and settling in for a long lesson.

* * *

"Finnick you do realise that we've been back at school for four hours and you're already trying to avoid falling asleep in class!" Thom rolls his eyes at Finnick who sits behind him.

"Let him be, Thom, the kids needs his beauty sleep." Gale laughs.

"Sleep doesn't help perfection." Finnick flashes a beaming smile around the table, stopping at Annie where she sits beside him and giving her a slight wink.

"Sure it doesn't Finn." Annie ruffles his golden hair with a mocking smile before turning toward Madge and I with a laugh.

I can't help but let out a sigh of relief while looking around the table of friends who had been a calming factor over the past few years. Contained within a school of people the rest of us had never really connected with, it was nice to have the stability of the eight people around me. I sit on the end of the table with Peeta by my side who, every now and then, would flash me a reassuring smile. Opposite me is Madge who was next Gale. Beside him was Thom, Johanna and Delly. Next to Peeta sat Finnick and Annie. For someone who never imagined having many friends, it was safe to say that I had outdone my little expectations.

It was nice to see that Madge and Gale and Finnick and Annie had stayed together over the summer. Everyone could see that they made each other happy, even a few of the freshmen girls who'd undeniably been crushing on Finnick from day one.

"So, I hear you're meeting Katniss' family tonight, eh Peet?" Gale says with quick look between Peeta and I.

"Yeah, any last words of advice?" he laughs.

"Dude, you'll be fine. First time I met Katniss' Mum, I walked in there and managed to almost break half their living room. My advice; whether or not you think it's a good idea to try play baseball inside, it's really not. I mean, we were like ten, so I guess that kinda makes it ok, but anything would be an improvement on that." Gale laughs bring back a flood of memories of my childhood with him.

"Yeah, he wasn't allowed inside after that." I laugh, rolling my eyes.

"Ok, so no ball sports inside the house." Peeta nods his head.

I place my hand over Peeta's and look up to him "You'll be fine, you'll see."

**Hey guys! here's chapter 4, it's really just a bit of a fill-in chapter between Katniss and Peeta meeting each others families. Hopefully you like it, and maybe let me know what you think about the way katniss is freaking out about school? have a good week and please R&R! **


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